Smoke and Mirrors
by butterfly collective
Summary: Sometime after current events, Julian tries to find his way back to his family while danger looms
1. Chapter 1

Alexis walked into the Floating Rib to meet up with her friends. Okay, maybe they weren't exactly friends more likely allies when life got tough. After all, who else was there to turn to when life in PC took an unfortunate turn?

She slid up to the bar and ordered pomegranate juice from Mac who didn't even question her on her choice of beverages. Alexis was thankful about Mac's lack of curiosity and sipped her drink thoughtfully as she watched Lucy enter the establishment…alone of course. She didn't feel like hassling Lucy knowing what she faced. Kevin had issued her divorce papers and this time he meant it.

The night of the Nurse's Ball…Alexis dimly remembered Lucy on stage in her underwear in lip lock with of all people, Scotty the DA. She hadn't been focused on that emerging scandal, she'd been focused on Julian, her date. Alexis drank the juice that Mac handed to her and rubbed her stomach which was still upset from that spicy burrito she bought from a courthouse kiosk.

It just all seemed so long ago.

Everything had changed and there was no going back….

"Hey Alexis what brings you here?"

She looked up and saw Felicia smiling at her. Vibrant. Her hands on her hips, her hair in a loose pony tail and wearing a tie died dress. Alexis just smiled up at her.

"Hi…Felicia…"

The other woman frowned.

"Alexis what are you doing here," she said, "I thought you'd be celebrating your court victory in that case…you know the one involving Lulu's embryo."

Alexis sighed, sipping her juice. After all that had been one of her rare victories over Dianne inside the courtroom.

"I just needed to relax. I didn't want all the attention. That's more up Dianne's alley," she said, "I have a lot of thinking to do."

"About what?"

Alexis hadn't expected that interest from Felicia. She had to cut this one to a quick.

"Oh nothing…nothing that I can't get past…"

Felicia just nodded.

"Okay….well the ground rules we established still apply," she said, "No judging each other on our transgressions…"

Alexis raised her hand.

"I'd be in the last position to judge Felicia," she said, "but I heard about Mac…"

Felicia sighed, running her hand through her pony tail. Not looking much different than she had as the Aztec princess of old, her face just lined with wrinkles.

"Oh that…he's just worried about Maxie since she took up with that…that…"

Felicia couldn't finish her words. Alexis knew partly why from the half-truths she'd picked up all around town. Maxie had left town to bury her pain over her lost child in some kind of spiritual journey. She'd returned three months later with a new boyfriend, Levi his name was, with a penchant for yoga.

She moved behind the bar, to pour herself some Scotch. After filling a shot glass, she gestured to Alexis.

"Want me to pour you a shot? It's on me. Mac keeps the tab but he's not here."

Alexis shook her head.

"I…I can't…Mac concocts himself some mean pomegranate juice…"

Felicia nodded.

"Yes he does…so you here all by yourself? I heard that…"

Alexis raised her hand.

"I don't want to talk about it…or him. It's water under the bridge…"

Felicia frowned, sipping her own Scotch.

"I see….but really is it that easy?"

Alexis shook her head.

"Not easy…but after what happened," she said, "how could I forget that, let alone forgive?"

Felicia sighed, sitting with her drink. Alexis knew she'd faced her own trials, including with her Peter Pan style man who sired her two children….she'd been a wandering soul until she found her peace finally with Mac.

"Yeah I know…I hear the gossip at Kelly's and the MC and…"

Alexis held up her hand.

"I heard it too. I hear the whispers about why I doubted Ric and how could I do that to him and Molly…because he was such a changed man? But throughout all of this, no one ever listened to my side of the story…"

Felicia sighed.

"I know…no one cared about all those times behind closed doors when someone who's supposedly changed can revert back to old form."

Alexis arched her brows.

"Ah, well at least you understand. They're blaming Ric remaining in jail as long as he did on me. HE's blaming it on me and for once again allowing my hormones to get the better of me, not that he valued my brains that much…"

Felicia shrugged.

"I'll always know Ric is an ass to women and that'll never change. It's like with Frisco and me. Everyone in PC expected us to be married together and forever and when it didn't happen…oh Alexis I was ostracized as if it were MY fault…I'm not the one who implanted my ex with his Peter Pan complex…"

Alexis arched a brow.

"He is cute…and he gave you two wonderful girls."

Felicia smiled, but her eyes glimmered with unshed tears. The kind that always lay in wait for times when memories threatened.

"Yeah…Maxie and my Georgie, god rest her soul. I'll always love him for that but there was too much pain for both of us too. Frisco's response was to keep his distance…though his whole life…our time together he was always looking for the next adventure. That was great when I was too…but at some point I just wanted to become more settled…"

Felicia's eyes had that distant look then she inhaled deeply and exhaled, reaching for the Scotch bottle to pour herself another glass. She sipped from it thoughtfully, her brow knit.

"Mac's lived a life filled with adventure, the thirst for it the life blood of being a Scorpio," she said, "but he's happy enough to tend bar and leave the policing to others."

Alexis pursed her lips. The PCPD hadn't been left in good hands. Its bumbling of several key investigations and its ties with Sonny's "business" made it the town's favorite whipping post, except during the odd weeks when Alexis took its place.

She sipped her juice.

"Molly still hates me for not believing her dad," Alexis said, "She thinks the sun rises and sets on him, even though well…he spent more time being a father to Cameron than to her."

Felicia nodded.

"I know what that's like. I think that in part, she's hungry for her father's attention. Plus I imagine she's not privy to his back story."

Alexis shook her head firmly.

"She isn't and I wouldn't ever share it with her. It might destroy her even more…well she's not going to know about it."

Felicia tilted her head.

"How can you stop that? I mean isn't it all over the internet? Well part of it…when he was DA."

Alexis swallowed over the lump that arose when she remembered those days. No, they were in the past. Her husband had sat for days in the same cell that had housed her when she'd been so ill when he tossed her in there. He'd been moved to more cushy digs when the FBI took favor with him. At the arraignment, she'd watched Scotty ask for harsh treatment much like Ric…no she wouldn't remember how he'd framed Sam, how she'd been shot in the back by a overzealous cop working under Ric, while visiting her deceased daughter's grave.

The town's collective memory was brief when it came to the sins of its men. Not so, when it came to the transgressions of its women for not standing by their men. Maybe having someone like Felicia as mayor would change that.

Maybe…but until then, Alexis would be judged because while Ric's sins had been erased clean by the town's own historians of past events, she could still be held in judgment.

* * *

Julian sat in his penthouse suite, across the hall from where his daughter raised his grandson. She spent most of her time investigating cases, her PI business picking up in recent months and with Danny. She also met at least twice weekly at the MC to dine with her mother, and he'd stood there watching them, both leaning across the table, as if they were conspiring.

He'd been near the door and heard the footsteps of an adult and the giggles of a child, before the key slid into the lock and opened the door across from him.

Sam had been apart from Silas while he sorted out things with his not so dead wife Nina. Julian worried about the obviously crazy as a loon woman who though she appeared to live in the past, schemed very much in the present. Julian knew all about that, and didn't trust the woman, which was a major reason why he'd stopped living in his office at the art gallery and bought the place across from his daughter.

She smiled at him, in passing but still hadn't invited him back in her life. The fallout of his lies had hit her hard but at least she didn't shun him.

Alexis was still furious of course. He'd expected that, knew it was the inevitable outcome of the choices he'd made to save them all.

It tore at his heart when their eyes met across the room, or the street and she shot him a look before quickly glancing away.

A look that said so much, one that had grown too familiar. His phone rang and sighing he picked it off the coffee table.

"Hello…"

"Julian?"

He paused, thinking.

"Why are you calling me? I'm not the one who reports to you…"

The other voice sighed.

"We both know that the one who does has become very dangerous."

Julian didn't need to be reminded of that. He had become increasingly unstable…more so after Ric had been released from jail.

"Then you know what you have to do…"


	2. Chapter 2

Alexis looked over at Lucy sitting by herself at a table in the corner. Waitresses bypassed her after she absently waved them off while nursing a beer straight out of the bottle.

Lucy didn't drink beer, she downed tequila shots when she wanted to embrace her wild side. Not tonight, she held onto her bottle as if it were a lifeline. A folded copy of Julian's newspaper resting next to it. At least today's headlines weren't about her or even about Scotty.

They were about how the PCPD had attracted the attention of the department of justice in Washington, D.C. and investigators had been sent to probe its rumored ties to Sonny Corinthos criminal organization.

Business operation, she silently corrected out of habit. After all, she no longer worked for him since he'd angrily fired her moments after she'd submitted her resignation letter. He'd subjected her to one of his tirades where he paced his living room, while Olivia frantically hid any glassware in the vicinity.

She glanced over at Mac who tended bar and then in walked Dianne. The lawyer smiled at her and after speaking with Mac, walked on over to sit across from her.

"So this is where you are hiding?"

Alexis protested.

"Who's hiding," she said, "Look I just wasn't up for a night out on the town. I'm tried, had a long day…this whole trial feels like it's lasted a year."

Dianne shrugged.

"It dragged out…but you won," she said, "isn't that something to celebrate?"

Normally Alexis would agree, but she felt knocked down dragged out tired. The trial had lasted four days and in between she'd spent late nights reviewing case law. Molly had done her summer school assigned homework without speaking to her. Life just couldn't go on like that but Molly was steadfast in her insistence that Alexis should have defended Ric against trumped up charges.

Alexis was the worst mommy on the planet according to her youngest. What else was new? Molly still thought the sun rose and set on Cool Daddy Ric even after everything that had happened. Maybe she'd done her daughter no favors by protecting her from her own family history. But Kevin had warned Alexis after Molly's last session that it'd do more harm than good to jar her out of her fantasy world right now.

Dianne took her Vodka on the rocks from the bartender who brought it to her. She winked at him and then placed it in front of her.

"So why are you here and not at home?"

Alexis sipped her drink.

"I'm like you relaxing after a day in court," she said, "and having to deal with Sonny again. He's still upset that I walked out on him. It's not like it's a marriage…"

Dianne sighed, fingering her glass.

"Your work relationship outlasted all of his marriages," she said, "and you know how legal clients can be….they think they own us and all of our time."

Alexis couldn't argue with that.

"Indeed…I provided Sonny with a list of referrals…"

"Not my name I hope."

Alexis smiled, tossing her hair back.

"No…though it might not seem like it at times, there are other lawyers in PC besides us."

Dianne sipped her vodka.

"I know…so you're serious about your new law firm?"

Alexis nodded.

"I leased space at the waterfront," she said, "not in the high rent district but they're practically giving the space away."

PC had bought up some of the older buildings and renovated them, to lease out commercially to encourage more commerce to settle into the crime plague, mob infested waterfront area. Felicia had led the efforts, as part of her efforts to gain positive exposure for the mayoral contest in a few months.

Dianne tilted her face.

"Ah, I looked at some of that space…on a clear day you can see to Pier 54…but I like my current digs…"

Alexis and Sam had spent a couple days fixing up her new office suite. Nathan had dropped by, shirtless as usual to do the constructive side of it, swapping his holster belt for his tool belt. Nathan was her cousin after all. Sam had needed the diversion ever since Silas and Nina moved in together. It had freed her daughter to jumpstart her PI business and with Danny in a new play group…with other kids his age. But children grew up so fast after all, almost at the blink of an eye.

Danny would be packing his lunch and books and be heading off to school before they knew it.

"I like my new office a lot better than my old one," Alexis said, "and it's got two dead bolts."

Dianne chuckled.

"I see. I had to do that after Carly barged in and started yelling at Ava when she wasn't even there," she said, "The woman's got out of her mind."

Alexis shrugged.

"Anything new there? She's just upset that Ava's knocked up with a baby that's got Corinthos blood in its veins…though I think she's more worried about it being Morgan's than Sonny's."

Dianne looked at her nails.

"Only because that'd make her a grandmother and for Carly…that's the worst thing that could possibly happen to her."

Alexis shook her head at Carly's deeply engrained insecurity about the aging process that impacted all women. She'd just been so grateful to live long enough to see her first grandchild…after everything she'd been through in her life.

"So are you going to attend Carly's upcoming wedding with Franco….?"

Alexis didn't know how to answer that.

* * *

Julian ran into Sam as he headed out of the building where they both lived. Sam glanced up at him in the lobby after coming out of the elevator.

"Dad…I didn't expect to see you here. I thought you'd left…you know for the hearing…"

He sighed, shifting his stance as he looked into his daughter's eyes, which matched his own, in color and in other ways. It was like looking into himself.

"Sam it's not what you think…"

She put a hand on her hip.

"It doesn't matter what I think…it matters what you did and I know you're trying to make amends."

He tilted his head, studying the earnestness in her features.

"If only your mother understood."

Sam shrugged.

"She will….if you tell her the truth."

"I can't…."

She pursed her lips, arching a brow and he knew that meant she doubted him.

"Why not?"

"It's complicated…I understand she's angry."

Sam's mouth formed a fine line.

"She's hurt…and angry and well, she's started her own law firm."

Julian bit back a smile. He'd seen Alexis and Sam talking with Nathan who'd helped them renovate Alexis' new headquarters since she'd quit working for Sonny.

"I'm going to make it right Sam," he said, "It's just going to take time."

Sam folded her arms, staring up into his face.

"She thinks that you're…"

"I know…but it'll all make sense. Right now, I can't say very much."

Sam scowled, then nodded.

"I see…but I've known my mother a lot longer than I've known you. I know you made your choices and you have your reasons."

"Sam…"

She looked up at him, unfazed.

"I get it…I know that kind of life and so does my mother. She just doesn't like being lied to, you know and neither do I."

He raised his hand.

"It was necessary…to protect all of you."

Sam pursed her lips again.

"From what? You still won't tell us who you're even working with," she said, "even after everything that happened…"

Julian wanted to say so many things to his daughter as he wanted to her mother but he couldn't do that. Too many lives were in danger already…

"I want to…I just can't…"

His phone buzzed again. He checked it being reminded why he had to stay silent.


	3. Chapter 3

Dianne and Alexis had dusted off the pool table that had been unused for months. They got the pool cues and started chalking up.

The first game would be practice. The second would be in earnest for cash. Neither of them paid much mind to Lucy nursing her fourth drink in the corner table. She hadn't wanted company.

Alexis lined up a shot.

"So why aren't you out with Max tonight?"

Dianne leaned against her cue.

"Sonny's not doing so well. So Max is watching him to make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

Alexis sank her ball in the corner pocket, then looked up frowning.

"I thought that was Olivia's job…"

Dianne shrugged.

"She's been spending time with Kevin," she said, "Getting help for those flashbacks she's been getting since she tripped on acid. Again. And no blaming it on Heather this time."

Alexis sighed. It seemed that Kevin's business was booming these days. What with Molly getting help for her angry teen issues. Jossie for her angry future step daddy issues and Olivia…for her enabling issues involving Sonny.

"Sonny's been spiraling downhill for a while," she said, "and the police are no closer in finding out who killed A.J. Quartermaine."

Dianne snorted after picking up her cue.

"Hardly surprising given that everyone in town knows who's protecting Sonny and his latest…moll of sorts except…Anna."

Alexis flipped her hair back.

"The truth hurts and it's going to come out during the feds investigation that Duke's been covering up for Sonny's…business."

Dianne nodded.

"The feds had her in the interrogation room for five hours today," she said, "It's not looking good for her."

Frankly Alexis didn't give a damn. After all the posturing the soon to be ex-commissioner had done to her about the evils of Julian… yeah he'd lied to her about a few things and she was pissed off at him for that. Between him and Ric's hyping of his soon to be ghostwritten book about his victimization by the criminal justice system, Alexis wanted to call BFF Jax on speed dial and take a plan to visit him on his sprawling ostrich ranch outside of Sydney.

But Molly needed her because Ric had been too busy lining up media gigs for his new book, that he didn't have time for his daughter as he put it. That was before he was taking fiancée Liz and future stepson Cameron to the PC Zoo.

Dianne sank a striped ball in a side pocket.

"Duke's already looking at life in prison," she said, "Unless he flips for Scotty and testifies against Sonny and Anna…"

Alexis shook her head.

"What a mess…Duke had it all once he walked out of that Turkish Prison. He had Anna, he had his freedom and what did he do instead?"

Dianne sipped her drink.

"He threw it all away to go after Julian as if time had stood still while he was in prison."

Julian…Alexis didn't need to be reminded of him right now. She sipped her own drink before lining up her next shot. But for Duke to toss his fresh new start at a life away on some vendetta…she remembered the day she'd spent with him at Kelly's what seemed like years ago now when he'd helped her find a way to link her oldest daughter's DNA to Julian Jerome.

He'd seemed polite and genteel, no trace of the wildness that had been in his eyes when the feds had done his perp walk with him in shackles.

Mac walked into the room with fresh tapas. He'd been experimenting in the kitchen again and the aroma…too much to resist as both Alexis and Dianne seized the plate out of his hand leaving the pool game behind. Mac looked subdued. Alexis arched a brow at her old friend.

"What is it?"

He sighed.

"I just heard from a WSB contact that they're trying to take the investigation of the PCPD away from the feds…"

Alexis rolled her eyes, not at all surprised. After all, hadn't Anna, Duke and a host of other colorful characters worked for that clandestine agency, going back decades? They'd messed with her family enough, not that some members hadn't deserved it. But they'd been after her father, uncles until…

She tilted her face.

"Victor Cassadine's still in charge isn't he?"

Mac nodded.

"Far as I know…no one knows how he took over," he said, "and Dr. O's one of their covert operatives though nothing about her is fits that bill."

"No…she's pretty much out there with her agenda," Alexis said, "I learned that from Nikolas. With her daughter needing to get married to inherit some distant family fortune…well, she's been trying to rope my nephew into the plan."

Mac shook his head.

"So is this have anything to do with your uncle?"

Alexis shrugged.

"I don't know. Victor hasn't been acting like himself the few times I've spotted him from across the street. I haven't actually talked to him. Now that Nathan West is his closest blood relative in PC…"

Some unwritten rule that Alexis didn't necessarily agree with of course.

Dianne smiled up.

"He needed an attorney…someone who does contracts," she said, "He's looking to buy some riverfront properties. It's all mysterious which is par for the course with them…"

Alexis sipped her drink.

"He shouldn't have any trouble. The parcels are practically being given away. My office space kept my overhead pretty low."

Mac frowned.

"How much of it are they buying up?"

Dianne bit into her delicious tapa.

"All of it…"

* * *

Julian parked his car at the MC and walked inside towards the bar. He saw Scotty dining with Madeline in the corner and one of his former employees Maxie eating with that detective, Nathan. At the bar, he ordered a Scotch.

His brows lifted as he saw an older gentleman approach.

"Mr. Cassadine…"

Victor ordered a drink and they walked to a nearby table. A waiter took their order.

"Mr. Jerome…I see you've managed to make it down to meet with me at last."

Julian nursed his drink.

"I've been busy…"

Victor's mouth quirked.

"I can imagine. It seems that the feds have swarmed on our little city to make a big deal out of our crooked police department."

Julian leaned back in his chair.

"It's nothing more than the enforcer for Sonny that he needed after Jason's death," he said, "Since Shawn could never do the job."

"Neither could yours…Carlos Rivera his name was…he came highly recommended yet turned into a lovesick fool."

Julian half smiled at that. Though he was still furious at Carlos' betrayal, he couldn't argue against his softer side.

"Okay so what do you want from me? You didn't drag me down here for an overpriced filet mignon?"

Victor leaned forward, clasping his hands on the table in front of him.

"Just listen for a few minutes and I will tell you…."


	4. Chapter 4

Dianne and Alexis feasted on Mac's tapas while watching more and more people arrive to fill the Floating Rib. Good for Mac, who had cooked plenty of tapas for all his customers and the taps overflowed with drinks

The mood was festive. Alexis wished she could revel in it but well…at least it was proof that the world moved on around the mess of her own life. Dianne raised a glass to the younger crowd, graduates no doubt of PCU celebrating the first night of the last carefree summer for most of them. Molly would be applying to PCU though she'd hinted at also applying to Stanford University and some Ivy Leagues.

Though not Yale. Part of her rebellion against her unreasonable mother was to not embrace any part of her biography and that meant she'd be boycotting Yale from her college list. Of course she'd apply to Harvard where her daddy had attended law school. Alexis didn't begrudge her that. Harvard was the top university in the country after all and only the best for her daughter.

Though Molly had hinted at wanting to go to PCU to be close to her boyfriend TJ. Even with her own life in a turmoil, she reached out to her steady boyfriend. After all, Shawn was scheduled to testify before the grand jury and Jordan…she was facing a board of rights hearing that might cost her career and give her some jail time. Alexis was a merciful person but she harbored little for TJ's mother.

The world had gotten so crazy in such a short period of time…but Alexis' focus was on her daughters whose lives had been upheaved by the collision of their baby daddies. Molly was in therapy and Sam…she kept her own father at arm's length. Two steps forward in her relationship with him, three big steps back.

Alexis envied her that journey, since she'd been robbed of her own father but she hurt for both of her daughters. At least Sam didn't disown her. Sam knew what being disowned by a loved one was like after all so she'd been Alexis' armor among all the craziness including the media circus.

"Alexis…"

She looked up at her colleague and sometimes friend.

"What?"

"So you still pissed off at Anna?"

Alexis' eyes brightened hinting at her heritage.

"Yeah, she comes in right now. I'm going to crack this cue over her head for starters."

Dianne looked impressed.

"Really?"

"Yeah really. God what she did to my family…to Sam…Lucas and Molly," Alexis said, "Cassadines have engaged in lethal vendettas for less."

Dianne nodded.

"Because she knew about Ric…"

Alexis leaned forward, her eyes flashing. Dianne didn't see that side of her often enough except occasionally inside the courtroom while Alexis cross examined a witness at trial.

"She knew about Ric and it nearly destroyed Molly when she thought he was dead," she said, "I had to hold her, to keep her from lunging towards the body bag…"

"Must have been tough…"

Alexis gritted her teeth.

"I'll never forgive her…or him for that. Ric? He's acting like he's the victim because he was innocent that one time out of all of them. What he did to Sam…to me… if not for that, more people might have bought his innocence."

Dianne nodded again.

"True…though it looked for a minute there he might sue you for custody."

Alexis shook her head resolutely.

"Never would have happened. He doesn't want to raise his daughter. He wants all the credit but none of the responsibility. Molly's angry with me…but she's going to reach a point where she hates him…maybe in her therapy. Kevin's going to peel away all those layers and when he reaches that one…"

Alexis couldn't finish. She didn't even want to think what lay ahead for Molly. Dianne patted her hand and looked straight at her.

"She'll get through it. She's got you and Sam…"

Alexis looked down at her drink.

"There are other…complications."

Dianne sighed.

"Aren't there always? I chose to stay away from the whole marriage and children life…I want my freedom but sometimes…I wish…but then my sanity catches up with me."

Alexis had to chuckle at that.

"Mine didn't…"

Dianne bit into a fresh tapa.

"Okay maybe not…but it doesn't look like Julian will face charges."

Alexis rolled her eyes.

"Of course not…it looks like that lawyer he didn't knock up will help him skate prosecution."

* * *

Julian had been helpful to the investigation against the allegations of corruption into the PCPD and all those involved in covering up its relationship with Sonny's "business" and his associates including Duke. He'd actually been spending his time operating his media conglomerate…but she hadn't spoken with him. Everything just felt so raw, the betrayal…she didn't want to face him again afraid to lose hold of her tightly wound control.

"He looks like he's going legit," Dianne noted, "Wasn't that what you wanted?"

Alexis sighed, rubbing her upset stomach, from the stress no doubt.

No, what she wanted from him was so much more complicated…

Julian left his meeting with Victor at the MC bar with a lot to think about in regards to his future in PC. The town hadn't exactly embraced him once it became clear the fallout from the crash and burn of its fabric in leadership had begun.

Anna and Duke were going down for what they'd done to his family for starters. But it could only begin not end with them since the loyalties of the PCPD were so tied into Sonny Corinthos and others in his organization.

It had cost him his family but at least they were alive and safe. Family ties could always be rebuilt after all as long as there was breath to be drawn.

That's where Victor Cassadine might come into play.

The night was cooler than normal in the heat of the summer months as he left the MC to go back to his car. After performing the precursory checks, he got inside it and decided to head back to his suite.

Victor had made him an offer he didn't know if he could refuse. He'd also issued him a warning that he couldn't ignore. Not surprising given that Victor had been the one Cassadine who hadn't embraced neither good nor evil but had walked the fine line in between. He'd conspired with his brothers Mikkos and Tony decades ago but had wound up betraying both of them.

Now after years in prison and exile he headed the WSB.

Julian remembered Victor though he doubted the elder gentleman remembered him from all those years ago. Back when he thought him to be the sane one in his family. He had only wanted one question answered. But Victor had toyed with him then or had he?

A car veered into his path focusing Julian's attention on the road. He didn't feel like heading back to his empty suite so early in the evening so he headed to the Floating Rib.

* * *

Alexis looked up to see Mac peel a trashed Lucy off of her chair and usher her to have a cab take her back to her suite at the MC. Lucy had really blown a good thing with Kevin to dally with Scotty and it bit her hard. Alexis only knew the perspective of being cheated on so she harbored little sympathy for Lucy. Kevin had helped her so much when he'd hypnotized her a year ago to pry some deeply buried memories right out of her head about her one night stand with Sam's father.

He didn't deserve to have his heart broken…but then Alexis hadn't considered herself a romantic. One foot in the door and out had been her motto for so long. After all, she had three children by three different men, the kind that came with warning labels attached.

Just like most of the men in her family tree.

"Hey Mac, I need a drink…"

Alexis looked up and saw Mac's face harden as Patrick stumbled into his bar.


End file.
